Harry Potter and the Wizard's Apprentice

Chapter Two

Birthdays and Beaches

Despite his eagerness to leave the next day, Harry ended up sleeping late. When he finally did awake, after several loud hoots and one fierce peck from Hedwig, who had apparently arrived earlier that morning, Harry felt drained as if he had not slept all night long. Groaning, Harry dragged himself out of bed and downstairs to the kitchen.

"Just waking up, are you?" snapped Aunt Petunia, standing by the sink. "I suppose they just let you lay around all day at that school of yours?"

Harry grunted; she was acting as if nothing had happened last night. Well, he wasn't going to let her get away with that. "It's Hogwarts. As you know perfectly well, Aunt Petunia."

She glared at him and returned to washing the dishes.

"I saw a picture of you and mum in that box you gave me," he persisted. "You two looked like you were having fun together... you must've gotten along at some point."

"That was before I was old enough to know better. Now NO MORE QUESTIONS!"

Harry sighed, knowing when to quit, and got up to fix himself some breakfast.

~*~

The hours until three o'clock that afternoon had never passed slower. At fifteen minutes until three Harry had finished packing his belongings into his trunk, and dragged it and Hedwig in her cage down to the living room. He placed everything in the middle of the room and sat on the top of his trunk, firmly grasping its handle with one hand and Hedwig's cage with the other, the Portkey located in the front pocket of his jeans. The three Dursleys sat on the sofa in front of him. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia was so bony, otherwise they never would have all fit. They stared at him as if seeing him for the first time and expecting him to break out into boils right in front of their eyes. To avoid having to meet their stares, he thought about what was going to happen next. Harry supposed that the Portkey would take him back to Number 12 Grimmauld Place and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand, he was dying to know what plans the Order had, on the other, he didn't know if he could face being back to Sirius's house yet. For the first time, he wondered what was going to happen to the house now that Sirius was...dead. Surely, it wouldn't pass on to the next relative. Harry couldn't picture Malfoy's mum living in a place where house elves' heads hung on the walls. He supposed she wouldn't be able to find it anyway, since Dumbledore was Secret-Keeper for the headquarters. He only had a minute to contemplate this before he felt the familiar tugging behind his navel. He looked up and made eye contact with Aunt Petunia, then the living room vanished before him and a swirl of colors filled his vision.

~*~

The first thing Harry realised was that he was lying on a floor (having fallen over his trunk) that felt scratchy under his skin. The second thing Harry noticed was the heat and smell of salt in his nose. He stood up, clutching his head, which still seemed to want to spin.

"HARRY!" a voice squealed somewhere to his right. He looked around and saw eight red heads and one brown one waiting for him to arrive. The girl with the brown hair rushed up and gave him a tight squeeze.

"Hi, Hermione," Harry said warmly, glad to be back among friends. He looked around at the Weasleys-- all of them except Percy-- and noticed that they all looked very...tan? He glanced at his surroundings for the first time and realised that he was not, in fact, at Grimmauld Place, nor was he at the Burrow. He was standing on a woven straw mat in the middle of a small wooden house. He released Hermione's grip and walked slowly to the nearest window, peering out. What he saw was the last thing in the world that he expected-- a large stretch of sand leading to a swollen grey-green ocean. Harry had never been to the coast before, and he found himself staring in disbelief as he turned to face the Weasleys.

"Professor Dumbledore himself told us about this place he uses when he needs to relax," Mr. Weasley said, smiling. Harry remembered how, the summer before fourth year, he had wondered where Dumbledore spent his holiday and had a vision of the professor, applying suntan lotion, stretched out on the beach in full wizarding attire. Harry remembered how, the summer before fourth year, he'd wondered where Dumbledore spent his holiday. He had a vision of the professor stretched out on the beach in full wizarding attire, applying suntan lotion.

"He's been kind enough to let us stay here for three weeks," Mr. Weasley continued. "We've been here one already."

So he was going to get to stay at the coast for two whole weeks? "Excellent!" Harry said, grinning at them all. This was better than anything he could have expected.

"Come on, Harry, let's get your things put up." Mrs. Weasley bustled forward. "Ron! Fred! George! Get Harry's trunk and take it to his room." She gave Harry a fierce hug and beamed at him. Fred and George each grabbed one end of his trunk and Ron grabbed Hedwig's cage, grinning at Harry.

"Let's go, mate, our room's this way."

Harry walked after them once he had greeted everyone else, closely followed by Hermione and Ginny. The beach house turned out to be just one story with four bedrooms. The living room consisted of two enormous couches sitting on opposite sides of the fireplace, separated by a low coffee table. The eating area was just an extension of the living room, with a large picnic table and benches located in the center. A long hallway extended down the middle of the cottage, apparently leading to the bedrooms.

Harry, as it turned out, was to share a room with Ron and the twins. Their room was down the hallway, the last door on the right. Inside were two sets of bunk beds facing each other and a wardrobe on one end, opposite the only window. Ron's owl Pigwidgeon was twittering and zooming in mad circles around the ceiling.

"There ya go, Harry," George said as he and Fred deposited Harry's trunk at the foot of one set of bunk beds. "You get the distinct honour of sharing a room with Fred and me for the next week-- we have to leave early to get back to the shop. Of course, that means you'll have to share it with Ron as well, but with a little stink repellent, we think you'll make it."

"Shaddup," Ron said, throwing a pillow at George and flopping down on one of the lower bunks. "Don't mind them; they've gotten rather big heads now that they're gainfully employed."

Harry opened Hedwig's cage and she promptly flew out the open window to stretch her wings. He then turned and sat opposite of Ron on the bed.

"Too right you are, little bro," said George, sitting himself on the floor.

"We didn't hear you complaining when we gave you a month's free of Weasley's Reusable Dungbombs," said Fred, who joined his brother and sprawled out on the rug.

"They come back to you after you've finished throwing them, dead useful," explained George.

"So the joke shop's coming along well then?" asked Harry.

"You bet it is," said Fred. "You'll get to see it when you all go to Diagon Alley before term starts. George and I bought a loft right above the premises so we'll meet you there."

"Cool," said Harry. "So your mum... she wasn't too cheesed off when she found out you'd left school?"

"Well... she wasn't thrilled, but there wasn't much she could do about it, was there? I mean, it was a little late by then, wasn't it? Besides, she'd heard all about that Umbridge woman already," said Fred.

"She tried to act upset but you could tell she was a bit proud-- not that she'd admit it to us, mind you. She was right made up, though, when she came to see our premises. Didn't complain a bit when we had the money to buy her some new robes, did she, Fred?" said George.

"Not one bit," agreed Fred. "We promised her a House Elf as soon as we could afford one. A paid one, of course," he added hastily at a sharp look from Hermione, who had situated herself on the opposite bunk with Ginny. Sensing another rant about S.P.E.W., Fred and George jumped up from the floor and made their exit.

"Well, gotta go, wanted to--,"

"--check under the house for some Bundimun--,"

"--for a new idea we had--,"

And with that, they scampered out the door, shutting it behind them.

Harry exchanged an amused look with Ron.

"So," Harry began, sobering up, "what news is there of Voldemort?" he asked, and was a bit surprised when neither Ron, nor Ginny, flinched.

"Honestly, Harry, not much. The Death Eaters have been quiet since the end of term," Hermione said.

"Well, that's good then, right?"

Hermione and Ginny glanced at each other and he felt Ron shift next to him.

"The thing is," Ginny said, her voice lowered to a whisper, "the Order doesn't know what's going on like they did before. I mean, last summer they knew that You-Know-- er... Voldemort," she corrected herself, again looking at Hermione who was giving her an encouraging smile. "They knew that V-Voldemort wanted the prophecy and would try to get it by stealth since the Ministry conveniently turned a blind eye. But now, they just don't have a lead. We've been left in the dark... " Her voice trailed off.

"But its not that the Order isn't doing anything," Ron filled in. "They are keeping rather busy. I know Dad has been working closely with Dumbledore to find a way to--um, get rid of the Dementors. Also, they're trying to find security for Azkaban that works just as well as the Dementors did, without the risks."

"Bill is working on relations with the goblins," said Ginny. "They're afraid that Voldemort will try and bribe them over to his side. We just can't afford to lose Gringotts to the Death Eaters. Literally," she finished with a grim smile.

"And Charlie has been back and forth between England and Romania-- trying to recruit foreign wizards as well as finding ways of using the dragons. They are considering posting them outside of Azkaban," said Hermione.

"What's going on with Percy?" Harry asked. "Has he come to his senses now that Dumbledore's been proven right?"

Ginny scowled. "Well, Dad says that Percy's forced to talk to him at the Ministry-- they're both on some of the same anti-Voldemort planning teams. Says he's polite enough but hasn't apologized. He's being such a prat. It's obvious he's been wrong, but he still won't contact the family. Mum's been very upset. She invited him to come with us and everything, but he never replied to her owl."

"I expect he's too embarrassed to come back asking for forgiveness," said Hermione. "He knows he won't have an easy time of it."

"It's right cowardly if you ask me," Ginny replied. "What's he in Gryffindor for, anyway?"

"We haven't been able to hear as much about the other members, though," said Ron, deftly changing the subject. "Since we haven't gone to Sir-- I mean, Grimmauld Place, we've been kind of cut off."

Silence followed this. Harry felt the familiar ice start up in his stomach. He knew Ron was about to say Sirius's house. He avoided their eyes, afraid they would use this as an excuse to talk about Sirius, and he definitely didn't want to do that. He cast glances around the room trying to find an interesting conversation starter.

After a brief moment, Hermione cleared her throat. "There is one other thing, Harry." She looked at Ron and Ginny for support. "We-- that is to say, Ron, Ginny, and I-- have been talking. And we think we know of something that will give us an edge over the Death Eaters if we have to face them again."

"Oh yeah?" Harry said, sitting up interestedly, thankful that it didn't seem she was going to bring up Sirius after all. What Hermione said was most on his mind of late-- how to beat the Death Eaters next time, because he knew there would be a next time, at least for him.

"Well," Hermione began, and Harry thought she looked a little nervous. "We thought that we could try becoming, um, well--Animagi." The word hung over the air as Harry tried to digest this information.

"Are you serious?" Harry whispered. "But that takes ages to learn. It took Sirius and my dad almost three years and they were best in their class. We haven't got that kind of time."

"Well," Hermione said again. "I've been doing a bit of reading," ("Imagine that," Ron muttered under his breath) "since last year, really... and I asked some well placed questions to Professor Lupin last holiday... and he gave me some really good information-- of what he could remember Sirius and your dad doing-- he was a little suspicious, naturally, but what could he say? He was a party to it himself when he was our age--."

"Hermione, you're rambling," Ron interjected.

"Hmph. My point is, Harry," she said, more briskly this time, "is that I think I know how to do it now, it will just take some time to work the spells and practise technique. So, what do you say, Harry? Are you in?"

"Are you crazy? Of course I'm in!" he exclaimed. "I think it's a great idea. And if you've really figured it out--,"

"Oh, I have," she said, grinning back at him. "So, it's settled then?"

"Definitely...hey, where's Crookshanks?" he asked, just realising he hadn't seen Hermione's bandy legged, ginger cat.

"He's outside, I expect," Hermione said. "He's been trying to catch a crab all week. It will be a pity if he does, though."

Conversation then turned to events earlier in their vacation. Harry was able to sit back and relax, letting their words wash over him. He even laughed with the others at Ginny's recounting of Fred and George charming the fish that Bill and Charlie had spent all day catching.

"Every time Mum went to fry them they would lift up their heads and start singing," Ginny said, giggling madly. "And what's worse, they didn't quit even when they were cooked. Do you know how hard it is to bite into a fish that's performing its rendition of Singing in the Rain?"

~*~

They talked for another hour until Mrs. Weasley called them for dinner. Harry stopped in his tracks as the dinner table came into view. The table was covered in all his favourite foods-- steak and kidney pie, roast potatoes, breads, pumpkin juice, treacle tart-- and in the very center was a large, towering birthday cake that read, "Happy Birthday, Harry!" Glancing up, he saw balloons and streamers everywhere-- all flashing different colors. He looked back at the sea of smiling faces.

"Wow," he breathed. "Thanks!"

"It was no problem, Harry dear," Mrs. Weasley said, ushering them around the table. "We don't expect that you've had very many birthday parties before."

"None, actually," Harry admitted truthfully, taking a seat in between Ron and Charlie.

"Hermione tells me you've been trying to train dragons to guard Azkaban," Harry said to Charlie, who was digging into the pie.

"Trying is the key word," Charlie replied, pulling a face. "The problem is that they just go after everyone-- prisoner or not. That's the reason for this latest burn." He rolled up his shirtsleeve proudly, showing Harry a patch of raw, pink skin in its first stages of healing, above his right elbow. "Hurt like a--,"

"Charlie! Don't they have MediWizards for that kind of thing?" his mother asked, concern written over her face. "I can't believe they would let you go out there and face those beasts-- risking your life, I might add-- without proper protection and--,"

"Mum, don't be silly. This was healed by a MediWizard!"

Harry grinned and returned to heaping potatoes onto his own plate, listening to snatches of conversation around the table.

"Fred, George, I don't want to hear another word about it. Your mother is in a right state already with Bill and Charlie in the Order," Mr. Weasley was saying quietly down at the other end of the table. "There really isn't a reason for you two to join... yet," he added as an afterthought, nervously glancing sidelong down the table.

"I'm telling you, Ginny," said Bill from the left of Charlie. "I think you'd do really well working for Gringotts. Ron was telling me you've gotten along really far with your cursing-er-charming ability. That's one of the main qualities the goblins look for in a treasure-seeker. Most people who can curse well can break them even better. So be sure you do well in your Arithmancy O.W.L. this year."

"Now, Bill, don't go putting any dangerous ideas into her head," Mrs. Weasley cut in, breaking off from the conversation she was having with Hermione about types of magical knitting. "Ginny's going to be a MediWitch, aren't you, dear?"

"We'll see, Mum," Ginny replied from where she was sitting across from Harry. She took a large swig of pumpkin juice to hide her smile.

~*~

After dinner, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the twins trooped down the hall, back to the boys' room where Harry could open his presents. Ron and Hermione pulled out several packages from the closet and from under the beds. Hedwig was waiting for him on one of the top bunks, a brown package tied to her leg.

"It's from Hagrid," Harry exclaimed, recognizing the scribble on the attached note. He removed the parcel from Hedwig's leg, smoothing her feathers affectionately. "Fly on down the hall to the kitchen," he said to Hedwig. "Mrs. Weasley will give you some food."

Hedwig pecked him gently on the hand and flew swiftly out the door. Harry sat on the lower bunk, tore open the brown paper, and found a stack of thick, creamy parchment and an emerald coloured quill. Harry opened up the note and read:

Harry, I got this from Professor Dumbledore himself. If you use this quill an' parchment together, only the person you send it to will be able to read it. Cheers, Hagrid.

"Cool," Harry said, and set it on the bed next to him.

"Here, open the rest, Harry," Hermione said, pushing the pile towards him and curling up in her previous spot on the opposite bunk.

"Wow, you guys didn't have to get me all of this-," Harry started to say.

"Come off it, what kind of friends do you think we are?" Ron said, sitting on the floor and stretching out his long legs.

Harry reached down and grabbed the closest present to him, which was enormous and oddly lumpy. He removed the paper and exclaimed, "Wow, this is brilliant," turning to Fred and George. Harry was holding at least a hundred Galleons' worth of Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-Bangs.

George grinned at him. "Why, anything for our benefactor. If it wasn't for you, we'd still be exploding things in Mum's attic."

"Yeah, and we thought we'd have a bit of fun shooting them off tonight," said Fred.

Harry unwrapped the rest of his presents quickly, so that they could go on out and let off some fireworks. He got a Quidditch strategy manual from Ron, an enormous bag of candy from Hermione (including, of course, tooth-flossing string mints), and a large book from Ginny entitled An Advanced Guide to Defense Against Dark Arts for Those Mad Enough to Get Involved.

"Excellent, Ginny," Harry said. "I've needed another Dark Arts defense book. I've been through all of ours from school and the ones that...that I got for Christmas last year."

"How'd you know Harry needed a new Defense book?" George said, looking curiously at Ginny.

"Harry, what do you mean you've already made your way through all those books?" Hermione asked shrewdly, cutting off George.

"Well, I had to keep myself occupied while I was at the Dursleys, didn't I? I couldn't just sit around and do nothing, especially since the Dursleys were too scared of Mad-Eye's retaliation to put me to work in the yard. So I just, well, took to learning all the defense spells," Harry replied.

"But-- you read all of our Defense books plus the two from Siri--Christmas?" Ron repeated. "That's about thirteen books, if you count the rubbish Lockhart made us buy, in less than five weeks?

"So you can count, can you?" Harry said sardonically and Ginny snorted with laughter. "Besides, reading thirteen books is nothing, is it, Hermione?"

"I don't know Harry; I just don't want to see you get obsessed. Leave it to Dumbledore and the Order, that's their purpose. No one expects you to take on Voldemort single handedly. Yes, Voldemort, Ron. Ginny says his name, why can't you?"

Harry tuned out Ron's scathing reply as he fiddled with loose string on the comforter, which he found suddenly intriguing. The feeling of being separate from everyone else returned. He still had not told his friends about the prophecy. He just couldn't handle the look on their faces that he knew would appear when they found out that he, Harry, would be the one that had to face down Voldemort in the end. That the safety of their lives and their families' lives lay in his hands alone. He tried to push down the overwhelming feeling of anxiety that was creeping up in his chest and was relieved when Fred provided a distraction, which was also successful in breaking up Ron and Hermione's bickering.

"Let's go on and try these out before it gets too late, shall we?" Fred said, standing up from where he and George were sitting against the wardrobe.

Harry gave Fred a grateful smile as he stood to join them, missing Ginny's eyes boring into the back of his head.

They walked back out to the living area where Bill, Charlie, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were sitting on the couches deep in conversation.

"We're about to try out Fred and George's fireworks, do you want to come?" asked Ginny.

The others stopped talking when they walked in. Harry was surprised to realize how tired Mr. Weasley looked, and he couldn't believe he didn't notice before. His hair looked a little greyer and there were dark circles under his eyes. Both he and Mrs. Weasley looked significantly thinner.

"Ah, no, thank you, Ginny. I think Molly and I will just go on to bed, it's been a long day." He sighed. "You kids have fun, though."

"And stay out of trouble!" Mrs. Weasley warned.

After saying goodnight to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the eight of them went on out the door onto a wooden deck with a long, matching walkway leading to the sand. Harry put a hand on Ginny's arm to hold her back as the rest walked by.

"What is it?" she said in a hushed voice.

"What's going on with your dad?" Harry asked. "He looks really beat."

"It's his job at the Ministry," she replied, looking worried. "Now that everyone believes that V-Voldemort has returned, they're all keen to listen to what Dumbledore has to say. Dumbledore is using this as an opportunity to plant members of the Order who work in the Ministry in all the high level planning against Voldemort. Dad's the most senior Ministry worker in the Order, so Fudge, through Dumbledore's advice, has placed him in several committees. He's even heading one or two. On top of that, he's still completing his duties in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. Also, everyone knows Dad is close friends with Dumbledore, so he gets at least ten owls a day asking his opinion."

"Why don't they just ask Dumbledore himself?'

"He's been keeping out of the spotlight. Mum says he's been devoting all of his time to making plans with the Order-- she doesn't even think he sleeps at night."

"Why is he making plans with the Order and not with the Ministry? I wouldn't have thought that the Order would need to be so secretive now that Voldemort has come out into the open."

"Well, they're not letting Fudge or the Ministry know about the Order, are they? Not officially, anyway. I mean, everyone knows that Dad, Lupin, Mad-Eye, and the rest have always supported Dumbledore, but the Ministry doesn't know that they have an organised group. If the Ministry knew about the Order, they'd want a representative and we just can't have that. Dad's sure there are Voldemort supporters still spying in the Ministry and they want to make sure that the Order is not infiltrated as well."

Harry thought about Wormtail, but said nothing.

"How do you know about all this anyway?" he asked, curiously.

Ginny gave him a mischievous grin. "Well--,"

"Hey, what's the hold up? Are you two slowpokes coming or not?" Ron bellowed from the shoreline.

Harry was taken aback to see how far behind the rest of the group they were, so he and Ginny ran to catch up. By the time they reached the water's edge, the twins had already unwrapped most of the fireworks and laid them out on the sand. Ginny joined Hermione, who was sitting in the sand a few feet away, propped up on her elbows.

"Watch this, Harry," Fred said as Harry joined the rest of the guys. "We made it just for you, mate. Hold it for me while I light it, will you, Charlie? You're used to arm burns..." He handed Charlie an enormous firework that Harry thought must have been as thick as one of Hagrid's legs.

"Good Lord, Fred-- George, what is this?" Charlie asked warily, holding the firework as far away from his head as possible.

"You'll see," George said. "We call it Ode to the Hero Who Conquered the Dark Lord."

Ron and Bill sniggered, but Harry was reminded of something.

"Wait a minute, you two didn't have anything to do with that singing Valentine I got in my second year, did you?" he asked them

Fred and George gave him identical grins.

"You didn't think Ginny was so daft as to do that, did you?" Fred asked.

"We never dreamed we'd be lucky enough that she would walk by exactly when that jumped up dwarf read it out to you," George added.

"Lets get on with it then," Harry said hurriedly, glancing at Ginny who, thankfully, was deep in conversation with Hermione and had not heard. He was enjoying being able to have a conversation with Ginny without her blushing all over the place and didn't want her to start again.

Without hesitation, Fred leaned over and lit the firecracker's fuse with the tip of his wand. With a shrill squeal, the rocket jerked out of Charlie's hands and took off into the air where it exploded above their heads. Hermione and Ginny 'oohed' and 'ahhed' as the firecracker exploded into a million white lights. Then their voices turned to laughter mingled with the boys' as a comical-looking Harry made of twinkling lights dueled with an even sillier looking wizard in a green cloak--presumably Voldemort. The wizard in the green cloak kept tripping over his hem and the form of Harry brandished his wand. With a loud 'pop,' the wizard turned into a green toad and the vision of Harry stamped on it, the twinkling lights dissipating and falling around Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys all sitting on the sand.

"That really was excellent!" Hermione exclaimed. "Even better than what we saw at Hogwarts."

"Let's see the rest, shall we?" said Bill, as he and Charlie dug through the pile like schoolchildren, this being the first time they'd been able to see the fireworks. They spent the next few hours taking turns holding and lighting the fireworks, even Hermione and Ginny; Catherine wheels, sparklers, and rockets all exploding in bursts of color around them.

~*~

It was approaching midnight before they dragged themselves back to the cottage, but Harry did not yet feel like sleeping. He grabbed his new Defense book and walked back to the living room, planning to read a few chapters.

Ron looked at him quizzically. "Aren't you heading for bed, mate?"

Harry shook his head and tried to force a grin. "Nah, I, er, I'm a little wound up. I think I'm going to read a little first. I won't be long, really." Ron looked at him doubtfully but went on back to the bedrooms with everyone else.

Harry sighed and settled himself on one of the two worn couches in the living room, thankful that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had left a small fire burning in the hearth across from him, because the room had become quite chilly from the evening air. Harry grabbed an afghan folded neatly on the back of the couch and wrapped himself up in it. He hadn't lied to Ron, not really. He was still a little wound up from the day, though he could feel traces of sleepiness weighing his eyes down. However, the truth of it was that unless he stayed up until the point of exhaustion, the nightmares would come. He'd had nightmares of Sirius and the Department of Mysteries, nightmares of Voldemort possessing him, and even nightmares of Voldemort killing off his closest friends--all of their faces staring accusingly at him. "Why didn't you save us, Harry?" they demanded, over and over again until he would wake up, drenched in sweat and shaking. Shuddering, Harry tried to push these images out of his mind and opened up the book Ginny gave him.

He was halfway through the first chapter, staving off sleep and muttering definitions to himself, when he heard soft footsteps come down the hall. He looked up in surprise to see Ginny standing hesitantly in the doorway, in her pajamas, something hidden in her hand.

"What's up?" Harry asked curiously.

She gave him a small smile and sat next to him. "I have another present for you, one that I didn't want to give in front of the others." After saying that she held up what she was hiding in her palm. It was a shimmering blue stone, worn smooth, and hanging from a thin silver chain.

Harry looked at it blankly. "Er, thanks. It's, um, pretty."

Ginny snorted, giving him an exasperated look. "It's a moonstone. If you wear it at night it will give you dreamless sleep."

Harry had told her about the nightmares through their correspondence over the summer but he had never expected... "Ginny, this is too much," he said weakly. "These are supposed to be really expensive. You shouldn't have paid--,"

"I didn't. Mum gave it to me after my first year when I was having nightmares. Mind you, it is a bit of an heirloom so don't go losing it or anything."

"Ginny, are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. I wouldn't have given it to you if I weren't. I don't need it anymore and I'm sure Mum wouldn't mind. You're practically family anyway."

"But--," he started to say.

"Honestly, Harry, are you always this noble?" Ginny said, rolling her eyes. "If it makes you feel better, you can return it when you don't need it anymore. Even if it's ten years down the road. Nevertheless, right now it's mine to give and I want you to have it. Okay?"

Harry smiled at her. "Okay then. Thanks." He slipped the chain over his head and looked up at her. He got a funny feeling in his stomach suddenly, noticing how the fire glinted off her hair, making it shine. She interrupted his thoughts before he could figure it out, though.

"Don't go getting all sappy on me now, Potter," she said, bringing him back to reality.

"I-- what?" Harry said stupidly; she had caught him off guard.

"You were looking at me like I've seen Ron looking at Hermione," she continued, as if explaining something to a child.

Harry blushed, and hoped it didn't show in the firelight. "How does Ron look at Hermione?" he asked, grateful to talk about someone else.

"You mean you hadn't noticed? You're supposed to be his best friend. Hermione was right-- you and Ron are hopeless. He completely moons over her when she's not looking. Fred and George even caught him primping in the mirror before Hermione arrived here. Ron had to promise to hang up advertisements for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes all over school before he could get them to shut up about it." Ginny got tickled reliving it for him and had to stifle her giggles with her hands.

Had Harry noticed? He supposed he wasn't that surprised at the news and remembered back to the Yule Ball when they'd had that huge row. Harry got a sudden mental image of Ron fixing himself before a mirror, waiting to impress Hermione, and the look on his face when the twins took the mickey out of him for it. He soon found himself laughing alongside of Ginny.

"Well," he said, once his laughter had died down, "Ron's lucky that the twins will be gone this year if he's going to try to start something with Hermione." He tried to keep his voice light while pushing an image of his two best friends snogging out of his head. He definitely did not want to think about that part of it. "Although, things will be boring without them around."

"Now that you mention it, I've wanted to talk to you about that," Ginny said.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well..." she said slowly. "I've been thinking. It's a shame Fred and George won't be around to lighten things up a bit-- what with Voldemort back and all. But really, they're not the only ones who can pull a few pranks, you know? I mean, why should the whole school suffer from boredom just because they've left? It's certainly no reason for things to be dreadfully dull," she said in a more serious tone, though her eyes were still twinkling. "You've got an Invisibility Cloak, haven't you?" She finished in a would-be casual voice.

"What? Are you saying you want me to fill Fred and George's shoes?" Harry thought that was a rather tall order.

"Of course not, I'm talking about us."

"Us? What about Ron and Hermione then?"

"Well, they're prefects, aren't they? They can't just go roaming around playing pranks, not that Hermione would anyway. Besides, I have a feeling they're going to want a lot more alone time this year."

Harry tried to ignore this last statement and the growing sense of apprehension it produced. "Wait, aren't you a prefect? I thought for sure you would be."

Ginny flushed. "Er... no. Best not to bring it up in front of Mum though, she was pretty jarred off. She accused me of following in Fred and George's footsteps. Quite ironic, really, seeing as she's the one who started me thinking about it."

"Well, what do you have in mind, then?" Harry asked curiously.

As she started telling him some of her ideas, a slow grin spread over his face. It would make the year a lot more interesting. Moreover, it would give him something to occupy his time, if Ginny was right and Ron and Hermione were going to be closer this year. It depressed him to think of passing each night in the common room as a third wheel.

Finally, Ginny yawned and said she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. Harry agreed and plodded behind her to the room he was sharing with Ron and the twins. He hadn't got much reading done, however; he would make up for it tomorrow night. Harry climbed carefully onto the top bunk, trying not to wake Ron, but found sleep harder to come by than he thought. Something of what Ginny said was worrying him and he kept playing it over in his head, 'I have a feeling they're going to want a lot more alone time this year.' If that was the case, was he, Harry, going to be left out? He tried to imagine the three of them doing things as normal if Ron and Hermione did start dating. He should be happy for them; it sounded like Ron was a lot nearer to acting on his feelings. Even though they had never talked about it, Harry had always known deep inside that Ron fancied Hermione. Otherwise, why would he be so jealous of Krum? Still, Harry couldn't help but feeling he would never be ready for them to partner off when the time came. Was he fated to be alone forever? Who would want someone destined to be a murderer anyway? Did he even deserve a girlfriend knowing he would probably endanger her? Harry mulled these thoughts over in his head until finally he fell into a peaceful sleep-- for the first time in months.